In this paper, we develop some basic techniques towards the Riemann hypothesis for higher rank non-abelian zeta functions of an integral regular projective curve of genus g over a finite field F q . As an application of the Riemann hypothesis for these genuine zeta functions, we obtain some explicit bounds on the fundamental non-abelian αand β-invariants of X/F q in terms of X and n, q and g: α X,Fq ;n (mn) = V q h 0 (X,V) − 1 #Aut(V) and β X,Fq